Having lived through the violent aftershocks of the tragic and devastating earthquake that reduced much of Christchurch to rubble last year, Grant Gilchrist has acquired a familiarity with seismic events that should allow him to take Edinburgh's Heineken Cup semi-final clash with Ulster in Dublin next weekend in his considerable stride.

Such experiences lend a certain perspective too, so you would hesitate to allude to rumbles and Richter scales in connection with Edinburgh's European campaign in the company of a man with vivid, recent memories of what happens when the earth really does move beneath your feet.

Yet the magnitude of Edinburgh's achievement in becoming the first Scottish club to reach the last four of the Heineken Cup still draws expressions of wonder and amazement from the amiable young lock, not least because success has come so quickly to a player who, at 21, is still in the infancy of his professional career.

Not that many infants can boast the sort of 6ft 7in frame that is Gilchrist's meal ticket in the professional game. Of course, Scotland's second-row skyscrapers have all too often been nothing more than elongated dreeps or uncoordinated gallumphers, but Gilchrist brings serious poundage – 18st and still growing, according to club coach Michael Bradley – and rugby nous to the job.

In which light, it is almost certainly no coincidence that the most feeble forward performance, and only defeat, of Edinburgh's Heineken Cup run this season was in their away match to Cardiff, the only game in which Gilchrist was not involved. Better still for the club, with Sean Cox filling the other second-row slot, Edinburgh now have the mix of muscle and menace in the boilerhouse that is a requirement for any top European side.

Yet a year ago, Gilchrist was still pottering around Bridgehaugh in Stirling County colours, while Cox's career was going nowhere as a bit-part player at Sale. Small wonder that Gilchrist is almost rubbing his eyes in disbelief at how the last 12 months have panned out.

The critical period in that time was unquestionably the three months he spent as a MacPhail Scholar in New Zealand, playing for Lincoln University – Richie McCaw's old team – and training with the Canterbury provincial side. Yet even before he left, his potential had been identified by Edinburgh's forwards coach Tom Smith. The club were running low on locks after the departures of Fraser McKenzie and Scott MacLeod, so Gilchrist was brought home early.

"Sometimes we've spoken in quieter moments about what a great season he is having in the sense of where his expectation level was and now playing in the semi-final of a Heineken Cup," said Bradley. "He's just had one of those good seasons, and he is enthusiastic, which is great to see."

The situation may have been forced on him to some extent, but Bradley has been fearless in his application of the good-enough-is-old-enough principle, blooding players such as Gilchrist, Harry Leonard and Matt Scott. The Edinburgh brat pack has been integral to the success of the club in Europe, and Bradley's policy has been a massive boost for Gilchrist's confidence.

"The coaches aren't the type who will stick with players just because they played well two seasons ago or they played well a couple of games ago," Gilchrist said. "I feel that if I was a young player here and I wasn't involved, I'd know if I put some performances together and played and trained well I would be pretty sure Michael and the other guys would put me in the team.

"That's a good place to be as a player and I think it is good for the squad as a whole. Having young guys who are ambitious, trying to work their way in, is definitely going to drive the rest of the team up."

But how far can they go? Edinburgh surpassed all expectations by emerging from a fiercely difficult pool with five wins from six games and a home draw in the quarter-finals. They then wrote Heineken Cup history by dynamiting Toulouse before a record crowd on an epic afternoon at Murrayfield two weeks ago. Bradley, whose side have been wretched in the RaboDirect PRO12 league, dismisses talk of some kind of European destiny, but Gilchrist admits things have tended to tumble their way on the Heineken trail.

"I think we have had the bounce of the ball, but we have performed better," said the player. "It's not all been luck. I think we have shown promise in the Rabo games for periods but we have only really put our complete performances together in the Heineken games.

"Obviously, we had a bit of luck. We had a last-minute drop goal against Racing Metro in Paris and we won a crazy match against them at Murrayfield. We beat London Irish by a point. But I think you have got to do that to get to the final of the Heineken Cup. You are going to be in tight games because it is the best teams in Europe you are playing against. That's just how close things are. You have just got to get an edge here and there, and it becomes a bit of a habit if you keep doing it."

Playing in front of crowds such as the 37,881 who packed into Murrayfield for the Toulouse match is also the sort of habit Gilchrist could happily develop. Edinburgh's players, including seasoned internationals, have been buzzing about that game for the past two weeks, and the atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium next weekend will be similar, albeit more hostile given that Ulster will bring the lion's share of supporters.

Giddy days for Gilchrist, and a dream he's not ready to relinquish just yet. Ulster are a fearsomely effective side – their 41-7 pool-stage thrashing of Leicester was one of the great performances of Heineken Cup history – but Edinburgh have found a way to win time and again. After the Toulouse match, anything is possible from Bradley's team.

And Gilchrist doesn't hide his enjoyment of the magic carpet ride. "Because I didn't play in Cardiff I am still holding on to my 100% record in the Heineken Cup," he smiled. "I hope that will just continue for my whole career. That would be nice. Or maybe I should walk away now and tell everybody I played for 10 years."